"The Intel chip: for years, it's been trapped inside a PC, inside dull little boxes, dutifully performing dull little tasks, when it could have been doing so much more."

The voice-over on the advertisement proclaims: "The Intel chip: for years, it's been trapped inside a PC, inside dull little boxes, dutifully performing dull little tasks, when it could have been doing so much more.

"Starting today the Intel chip will be set free - and get to live life inside a Mac. Imagine the possibilities."

Intel has moved to say that it would never categorise its customers as "dull", adding its hope that bringing Apple into the Intel fold will generate a new age of innovation among its other computer-making partners.